Back to Back
by In Darkness Is Light
Summary: Sasuke returns to Konoha only to wonder if he should be regretting his decision.


AN: Here is another lovingly crafted piece of fanfiction for you guys! This fic has to do with Sasuke's coming back to Konoha and how his former team react after seeing him again on home turf. Enjoy!

Dislcaimer: I do not own anything but this story!

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He was back of his own free will. At least that's what they'd been told. Team Kakashi had been called to Tsunade's offices earlier that day to be alerted of the news and also that Sasuke was going to be meeting them at the Gates of Konoha around 5 o'clock.

All eager to see him but all with hidden agendas, they each left for their respective homes to eat, shower and change before the meeting.

When 5 o'clock came around, Sasuke Uchiha sat patiently on the bench by the gates, anxiously awaiting his teammates' arrivals. He was curious to see them and their reactions to his arrival; after all, the last time they had seen each other was when Sasuke nearly tried to kill them. They all appeared together at the same time. Kakashi had instantly greeted him with an "It's good to have you back, Sasuke".

Naruto's welcome however, had been a little less pleasant; the demon fox's host was truly excited that his best friend had come back but he was angry at him as well for having left and becoming so corrupt.

"Dobe," Sasuke greeted him.

"TEME!" Naruto yelled before landing a punch on his stomach.

Sasuke flew to the ground, anger and surprise mixed in his eyes. "What the hell was that for dobe?"

"For being such a teme!" Sasuke sighed. Oh well, typical Naruto and reluctantly, he admitted that maybe he deserved that punch.

Behind Naruto, there was Sai who came up to Sasuke, holding out his hand, a smile plastered on his face. "My name is Sai, nice to meet you."

As Sai opened his eyes, Sasuke looked at the new boy in amazement. This guy looked almost exactly like him! The resemblance was uncanny! What did his former team do? Clone him? The eyes were exactly the same almond shape, minus the fact that Sai's weren't red and their voices were scarily similar. Sai took this opportunity to catch Sasuke off guard, landing another punch to his gut.

"Don't ever let me catch you hurting my friends again, you gutless little homo," he warned Sasuke, a smile still plastered on his face.

By this point, Sasuke was wondering whether he should have come back! He had planned to after fulfilling his goals but it seemed that no one was really happy to have him back! 'At least Sakura's next,' he thought, relieved. 'She'll be nicer to me.'

Sure enough, Sakura ran up to him, smiling widely. She had her arms drawn back as if ready to give him a bone-crushing hug and Sasuke wasn't sure when he'd be so happy to see that sight again. Truth be told, his stomach was starting to really hurt after these 'welcomes' he had received. When Sakura was merely a foot away from him, her right drawn-back hand clenched into a fist and she nailed him in the jaw. Now, no matter how good Sasuke was at concealing his emotions, he couldn't hide the surprise on his face. Sakura had just nearly broken his jaw! Her voice woke him up from his dazed trance. "This is for leaving!" she yelled, now on top of him, knees on either side of his body.

She punched again. "This is for coming back!"

Another. "This is for being corrupt!"

Another. "This is for being so stupid!"

Another. "This is for going to Orochimaru!"

Another. "This is for being a bastard!"

Another. "This is for hurting my feelings!"

Another. "This is for hurting my friends!"

And finally, another. "And this, you stupid jerk, is for knocking me out and leaving me on a bench!"

Panting, she stood up and examined the damage. All those years of training under Tsunade had helped her unleash a force on poor Sasuke like no other. He was now sporting a broken jaw, two black eyes, a broken nose, broken cheekbones and a bump was forming on his head. He lay there for a few minutes, unable to sit up from the pain before Sakura came over to him.

She put her hand over his jaw as she flowed out chakra to heal him. She continued to heal his injuries to the point where they were just scratches, bruises and bumps but still really hurt. "Gomen Sasuke-kun, but we do this because we love you. Really, we're all very happy to have you back but you do need to understand the pain that your leaving has caused us. You deserved quite a few of those punches."

Sasuke just lay there, taking in everything that his pink-haired teammate had just told him. He knew that indeed, he deserved some of those punches and that's why he hadn't moved out of their way, but hers were especially brutal. "When did you become so strong?" he gasped, still not being able to breathe properly because of his freshly acquired wounds.

"Overtime," Sakura replied, smiling at him. "I've been training under Tsunade-sama for a few years now." She paused. He nodded. "I wanted to become strong so I could save you Sasuke-kun. I knew that even though I loved you, that love was pretty useless if I was weak," she continued still smiling.

Again he nodded and almost smiled at the thought that she had gotten stronger in order to help. He looked up at her; she was no longer the twelve-year-old fan girl who followed him around, of that he was sure. She had become a strong, independent woman. "We've missed you so much, Sasuke-kun," Sakura spoke again when she finished healing him.

"You've changed."

"Hai."

Sasuke sat up gently; careful not to agitate his body any further and was met with the smiling faces of all his teammates.

"Sorry Teme," Naruto apologized grinning.

Sasuke merely rolled his eyes. "Dobe."

Sai was the next to voice his apology, though Sasuke wasn't sure if the boy actually meant it; he was too good at concealing his true emotions. "Sorry Sasuke-kun. I guess if you've come back on your own, it means you're ready to face the consequences of your actions and be a man and sorry for calling you a homo."

Sasuke just gave a nod in Sai's direction, to show that he acknowledged and accepted the boy's apology; though, he was not sure he really liked this new addition to their team.

Sakura was the last to speak up, and her voice came from right beside him as he noticed she was helping him to stand. "Guess you can kind of understand the phrase 'Love hurts', ne Sasuke-kun?" she giggled at her own words and he just scoffed but gave a small smile.

"So you still love me?" he asked jokingly and smirked but was indeed curious of the response.

Sakura gave a sincere but sad smile. "Always," she told him before Naruto showed up on the other side of him and helped Sasuke up as well.

Sasuke sighed. His friends were still here and they still didn't hate him. He saw his strong friends on either side of him, smiling and he now understood; coming back to Konoha hadn't been a mistake after all but ever leaving it had. It would take a long time to heal the scars caused by his departure but he would do anything to make them all good friends again; he would make it up to them.


End file.
